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Hands In 2013 "It's Geocaching Time"

Monday, 29 October 2012

Members of Woodcraft!

Have you heard about the exciting new opportunity coming to a district near you? In the coming year Woodcraft groups across the UK will be venturing outdoors with one aim and one aim alone; CACHE!! (not to be confused with cash...) For your group to get involved all you need is a waterproof box and a little bit of creativity.

So what is it?

Geo-caching is an activity by which people leave boxes hidden away somewhere in their local area, whether in the countryside or in a city, filled with little keepsakes and mementos that represent themselves. They then log the location of this box online so that others can find the box and take something from it. Every time you take something from your discovered geo-cache box you keep a log of it and leave something else behind. Log on to http://www.geocaching.com/ to look for geo-caches in your area.

Find a beginner's guide to geocaching below

How can my Woodcraft group get involved?

Have a group night where you plan what you’d like to put in your geo-cache box and encourage everyone to contribute ideas of what represents your particular group. This can be anything from badges to small pieces of artwork, bushcraft to friendship bracelets. Just make sure you include a little notepad and pen so that the lucky people who find your geo-cache can leave messages for the next person. Then search for a safe place to leave it in your local area, somewhere not too obvious but not impossible for people to find it. Study, waterproof sandwich boxes are good for protecting your geo-cache against the elements but it might be a good idea if someone from your district checks on the box occasionally. Then wait for people to discover your geo-cache and enjoy the messages and souvenirs they leave.

Why Geo-cache?

Making a geo-cache box can be a really fun group night activity for all ages and helps to get members thinking about their group’s identity and what makes their group special. It can also be a great way of raising awareness of Woodcraft as a whole and more importantly encouraging new people to join your district.

When should we do our Geo-cache?

There will be help and advice on geo-caching available at regional meetings but try to fill and place your box as soon as possible. Woodcraft aims to ‘launch’ all the WCF geo-caches online at the same time, making it a national event on the 16th February.

What to do now?

Get out and go Geocaching!!

All you need is a pen, a free geocaching log in and a GPS devise or a free mobile phone app (C:Geo for Android or Geocaching Intro for iPhone)

Remember to set aside a few group nights in the Spring Term to create your Geocache and placing it in your local area for Hands In 2013.

Sounds great, I'm sure this is something that Oxford groups will enjoy being part of. I've got a Geocoin that was one of a batch that Beni had made, which we still haven't cached! So perhaps we will save that for cachetastic February.